For all of their success with developing college pitching, the Guardians hadn’t taken a college pitcher in the first round since 2021 when they took Gavin Williams out of East Carolina in 2023 with the 30th overall pick. They went back to the well in 2026 by selecting Florida right-handed pitcher Liam Peterson with the 19th overall pick.

Peterson came into the year as one of the more hyped college arms in the MLB draft with big velocity (upper-90s and hitting 100) with big stuff overall. Control issues and overall performance issues held him back. He was generally expected to come off the board around the range Cleveland was picking in, at 19.

An extended look at RHP Liam Peterson (@GatorsBB)… https://t.co/aKfU3NDRzd pic.twitter.com/xOrFS6MjTK

— PG College Baseball (@PGCollegeBall) April 22, 2025

At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Peterson has the size you can project from a workhorse starter. His high arm slot gives him some serious downhill plane on his fastball with carry in the zone with the college ball to miss bats. He works with two distinct breaking balls — a slider and a curveball, and both could be his best secondary on any given day. His changeup has good arm side run and fade.

Despite the big stuff, Peterson had an earned-run average of 4.59 at Florida in 2026 with a fielding independent pitching (FIP — that only accounts for strikeouts, walks, homers and hit by pitches — things only the pitcher can control) of 4.01. He also walks over 10% of the batters he faces, 36 in 84 1/3 innings in 2025.

Florida’s track record of MLB arms is sketchy at best, with Brady Singer being one of the best examples through a decent but not special career. In 2021, Cleveland drafted RHP Tommy Mace, RHP Jack Leftwich and RHP Franco Aleman all from Florida. Only Aleman has made it to the majors — as a reliever, briefly so far. Others may view players coming from the program as underdeveloped, meaning Cleveland could possibly see some key fixes that can help out his performance.

Ironically, there are some pitch mix and physical comparison from Peterson to Williams, though Williams dominated his draft year at ECU, but had a back issue that caused him to slide.

Cleveland had the 59th pick in the MLB Draft in the second round.